The Gaumont Company made a specialty of expedition films, and snapped up any opportunity to bring the first pictures from long distances and heroic endeavours. They had negotiated the rights to all footage taken in Antarctica during Scott's British Antarctic Expedition by Herbert Ponting, its official photographer and cinematographer. During the first year of the expedition, Ponting sent back films in the Terra Nova when it left Cape Evans for New Zealand during the Polar winter. The films were sent to London, edited by the company and released as occasional news items reporting on what was going on in Antarctica.